France’s opposition has accused President Emmanuel Macron of deliberately locking down key state institutions as the country edges closer to the 2027 presidential election.
Criticism erupted following the nomination of budget minister Amélie de Montchalin, a close Macron ally, as head of the Court of Auditors, one of France’s most powerful and sensitive constitutional bodies.
The Court of Auditors plays a central role in French democracy. It oversees the use of public money, evaluates public policy, audits state and local authorities and can now rule on the financial liability of public managers when serious mismanagement causes significant losses.
Critics argue that Montchalin’s appointment undermines the independence of the Court.
David Lisnard, Mayor of Cannes and President of the liberal Nouvelle Énergie (New Energy) party, condemned what he described as a self-serving political elite entrenching itself outside the ballot box.
“The caste walls itself up in the power it grants itself through means other than the ballot. We will have to blow these citadels to pieces in order to unlock the country, to free it from the conformism and the self-referential bubble of those who have failed but are convinced they are the only legitimate ones to occupy the top positions in the Republic,” he said on social media today.
Historian Jean-Noël Anceau warned that the appointment fits a broader and troubling pattern.
“The appointment of Amélie de Montchalin to head the Cour des Comptes, following that of Richard Ferrand to the Conseil constitutionnel and likely that of another Élysée loyalist to the helm of the Banque de France, signals a complete perversion of our institutions,” he warned.
“How will the current minister be able to issue a credible opinion on the next budget that she herself prepared? The distrust of the French toward their leaders has never been so strong since 1958. The disaster lies in wait. E Macron will forever remain its principal architect,” he added.
From the Left, Éric Coquerel, chair of Parliament’s Finance Committee and an MP for La France Insoumise, said the nomination weakens an institution that depends on public trust.
“Nothing about this decision is right,” Coquerel said, arguing that the President of the Court must be impartial, neutral, and independent, as required by the ethical code governing financial institutions.
“It is not an insult to say that Amélie de Montchalin meets none of these criteria. From now on, any suspicion cast over the Court’s work will be legitimate,” he insisted in a press conference today.
An ally of Macron, Yaël Braun-Pivet, President of the National Assembly, defended the appointment on feminist grounds.
“The Court of Auditors has never been led by a woman in more than 200 years. I’m tired of a Republic in which women are denied access to the highest positions,” she said today.
Beyond concerns over the institution’s independence, critics have also pointed to de Montchalin’s age.
At just 40, she could remain at the head of the Court of Auditors until the age of 68, benefiting from the principle of irremovability, which effectively locks her in the job for nearly three decades.
